Former Cottage Grove Pastor Pleads Guilty to Federal Child Porn Charges

KAAL
March 14, 2017

http://www.kaaltv.com/article/stories/S4425558.shtml?cat=10728

A former Cottage Grove pastor pleaded guilty in federal court to distribution of child pornography Thursday.

Forty-seven-year-old William Leonard Helker of Pine City was arrested in October at his home. The arrest came after Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agents with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force executed a search warrant at his home and All Saints Lutheran Church in Cottage Grove.

The agency was tipped off by Facebook and Instagram that a user was suspected of possessing child porn.

Investigators said they found Helker communicated with a man in Finland, planning to trade images of preteen and teenage girls, according to the criminal complaint.

The photo involved two pre-pubescent girls as young as 5 and a pubescent man engaging in sexual acts.

According to court documents, Helker admitted in his plea he had conversations about his sexual interest in children, had more than 900 child porn images and 300 child porn videos in his possession, "including images of prepubescent minors under the age of 12 and depictions of sadistic and masochistic abuse."

Helker admitted to investigators he took the photos of four minors who attended church events and edited their photos on to adult porn images. He said the photos he created were "in the hundreds."

As part of the plea deal, six child porn charges at the state level were dropped.

Helker was initially placed on paid administrative leave, then was dismissed from the church.

His sentencing is scheduled for July.